The New-Born Baby

Merry Christmas and welcome to this series of Christmas blogs. Since the first weekend in December, I have been posting an updated issue of the blogs I wrote five years ago. I thought they were kind of cute, so decided they were worth revisiting. All the pictures are of animals either my daughter or I photographed on our trips to Kenya. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the story.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. (Luke 2:6-7 New International Version)

Visitor: This must be the right place. Excuse me, can you tell me if that is Mary?

 Cow: Yes, it is. With her husband Joseph and their brand-new baby.

Goat: You should have been here earlier. It was like a miracle when the baby was born.

Visitor: Really? Why is that?

Goat: I really can’t put my hoof on it.

Cow: Me either. But it was beautiful. It was like total peace and serenity suddenly came over this stable.

Goat: And this light seemed to be coming straight out of the baby. Only it wasn't a light. I can’t explain it.

Visitor: Then I am pretty disappointed that I missed it. I have been all over the countryside the last few months, looking for Mary. I can’t believe that I finally found her.

Cow: Why have you been looking for her so long and so hard?

Visitor: That’s what I don’t know. I thought I was drawn to her but now that she has the baby, I think that all along it was the baby that I was looking for.

Goat: But here you are and you still don’t know?

Visitor: No, I don’t. But I am going to figure it out before I’m through.

(For some, the answer didn't come from just that night when Jesus was born. You'll have to continue following this story for the next few weeks to see if the visitor finds what he is looking for. Today, however, have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas.) 

Fourth and Final Cookie

Here it is the fourth and final week of Christmas Cookie countdown, with the most classic cookie of them all.

1 cup butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 tablespoons cream (ie skim milk, coz that’s all I have in the house)

1 tablespoon orange rind (or whatever I end up with when I am tired of grating the stupid orange)

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

3 cups flour

Blend the first sixth ingredients together, then slowly add the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Chill for as long as you want to or until you are psyched enough to roll the beasts out.

You’ll notice that I didn’t take any pictures at this stage. A picture of me rolling out cookie dough would be like looking at a crime scene from Criminal Minds. You would be scarred for life.  

You’re supposed to bake them in a 400 degree oven for 5 to 7 minutes. Really? Coz I can get the next pan ready in that amount of time? Nope. I turn the oven down to 375 or even 350 if I am being a putz. Then they bake a lot slower and you can get the next batch rolled out, cut out and panned.  

Oh, yea, and I usually double the recipe to really make it worth the mess. When I was a kid, my mom quadrupled the recipe. The woman was amazing. She could keep up the pace all afternoon and not a speck of flour (or is it a flake of flour?) would stray from under her rolling pin. She was like a machine. 

Every surface in my kitchen, however, including any and all persons passing through, is covered in a layer of white dust, as if it were a coal mine where coal was white instead of black. Or did you read Tuesday’spost? Then you would understand the reference if I called it a white nightmare.

After resting for a few days, I begin the arduous task of frosting and decorating them. I can usually get through about a pan and a half until I have had enough fun with the whole thing.  After that, I don’t much care what they look like. And I still have an ice cream tub full of unfrosted ones. Maybe my kids will work on them when they come home this weekend. . . . Sure, that will happen.

And All Was Right with the World

Christmas is swiftly approaching and I still have to tell you about my favorite Christmas TV specials. So far, I have posted about “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.” Today I have a different spin.

I guess this movie makes the cut because who hasn’t been a kid with one and only one gift on their wish list. Ok, I don’t remember ever being that kid. I remember waking up every Christmas morning oblivious to what might be under the tree, filled with joy that there were presents to unwrap and Christmas cookies to eat. Some details of my childhood are remarkable. Alas, wishes of Christmas past are not.  

Maybe that’s why we all love this movie so much. We want to return to our childhoods and be filled with the hope and expectation of getting that one gift we want.

For Ralphie, it naturally is the Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle. Which of course is destined to shoot his eye out.

Which brings up the myriad number of quotes we all know: “My brother looked like a tick about to pop.” “I’d gone out of my skull.” “Only I didn’t say fudge.” “He looks like a pink nightmare.” “Schwartz created a slight breach of etiquette by skipping the triple dare and going right for the throat!” “Fra-GEE-leh! It must be Italian!” “He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay.” “All right! Everybody upstairs! Get dressed! We are going out... to eat.”

Then there are the similarities to our current lives. Well, mine at least. Every night during the winter, when it is cold and we feel sorry for our three outside cats who have heated beds inside the garage, and we let them in the back door, they rush into the house just like the Bumpuses dogs. True story. 

But what matters is that all is right with the world on Christmas day.

Where did your Shepherd Go?

Welcome to this year’s Christmas edition of my Sunday inspirational blogs. For six weeks, starting the first weekend in December, I will be posting an updated issue of the blogs I wrote five years ago. I thought they were kind of cute, so decided they were worth revisiting. All the pictures are of animals either my daughter or I photographed on our trips to Kenya. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the story.

 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. (Luke 2:8-9 New International Version)

Visitor: Good evening. It’s sure quiet out here.

Sheep 1: Seriously? You should have been ten minutes ago.

Sheep 2: No kidding. It was ridiculous.

Visitor: What happened?

Sheep 1: We were all having a quiet evening, doing some grazing and thinking about laying down to sleep, when all of a sudden, there was this light in the sky.

Sheep 2: And these people were in the sky and they were singing.

Sheep 3: They were angels.

Sheep 2: How do you know what an angel is?

Visitor: It doesn’t matter. Just tell me what happened? This sounds amazing.

Sheep 1: These angels – if that’s what they were – told our shepherds that their Savior was born in Bethlehem and that they should go meet him.

Visitor: Really? What did your shepherds do? 

Sheep 2: They went and left us out here by ourselves.

Sheep 3: I think when angels tell you to do something, you better do it. I think that one of the angels is still up there, watching over us until our shepherds come back.

Sheep 2: Are you nuts? What are you talking about?

Sheep 3: I think there is something magical about tonight.

Visitor:  I do too. Did they say anything else?

Sheep 1: I think one of them said that there is a baby in a manger and his mother is Mary and –

Visitor: What? Did you say Mary? I’ve been looking for a woman named Mary who was going to have a baby.

Sheep 1: Well, you best get going then, I think this is your gal.

Visitor: I just came from Bethlehem, but I guess I will head back there. Thanks for all your help. I hope the remainder of your night is peaceful.

Sheep 2: I do too.

A Festive Cookie

It is week 3 of my Christmas cookie extravaganza. This week’s cookie is my personal classic, one you may not have heard of.

I must have been a teen-ager when I was going through Mom’s cookbook drawer one year. In addition to her red checkered Better Homes and Gardens spiral bound cookbook, she had a bunch of thin cookbooks with only a dozen or so yellowed pages. I think a lot of them were put out by Gold Medal flour or GW sugar or C&H sugar and also by the UW Extension. Even though I can see them clear as the nose on my face, I can’t conjure up what their titles were.

Anyway, one of these cookbooks was devoted to Christmas cookies. I picked out a recipe that looked the easiest, asked Mom if she could buy me some pecans, and baked up a batch.

They were always one of Dad’s favorites because he said they reminded him of Marzipan. To make him really happy, I would try shaping them into various fruits, just like Marzipan. A few years later, when I ate real Marzipan for the first time, I was like – yuck – this is nothing like my Christmas Balls. Perhaps Dad had just been trying to make me feel special, or perhaps the Marzipan he remembered from Germany, because they were poor, was more like these cookies, than the almond-paste candy.

I’ve never seen this recipe anywhere else. They are similar to Mexican wedding cakes, but made with white sugar instead of powdered sugar and not as crisp. And they look a lot more festive.  In any case, here’s my recipe.

1 cup margarine

2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp water

2 cups flour

1 cup chopped walnuts (the original recipe called for pecans, but I generally am too cheap to buy them)

Mix all ingredients well. The dough will be solid and thick, if that makes sense. Shape into balls. Once again I use my Pampered Chef scoop, this time the smallest one. Roll in colored sugar. Push into different shapes if desired and you are artsy. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes. Remove from the pans as soon as they come out of the oven or the sugar will stick to the pans. Freezes well. And you’ll need to freeze them or they will disappear on you before Christmas.

Have fun with them and make them in different shapes and colors.   

Can you pick out the bananas? 

These were supposed to be strawberries and apples. Can you tell the difference? 

I even made Green Bay Packer ones for the Hubby. The Wisconsin Badgers ones didn't show up as well because the white sugar gets overpowered by the red. 

Do we need lights and glitter at Christmas?

 Every Tuesday in December, I’ll post about a different one of my favorite Christmas specials. One look at the piano in my living room should give you a clue of what this week’s show is.

You’ve all seen “A Charlie Brown Christmas” countless times. Right? So I won’t give you a play-by-play. Instead, here are some observations.

The other morning, the DJ’s on the Christian radio station I listen to were talking about “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. One of them commented that when Linus is on the stage reciting Luke chapter 2, verses 8 to 14, he suddenly drops his security blanket. As if knowing that his Savior being born in the city of David on Christmas Eve gives him the security to face the world without any other support.

What I noticed was that near the end of the show, Linus uses his blanket as the tree skirt under Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree. Once again, Linus is secure enough just knowing what the holiday is really all about that he gives his blanket up again.

In thinking about it, though, doesn’t Linus seem to be the most well-adjusted kid in the whole Peanuts ensemble?  

And poor Charlie Brown. All he wants is to find the true meaning of Christmas. Even back in 1965, when this special aired, this time of year was filled with commercialism and the message of spending money. Why can’t we remember what we are really celebrating? It’s not about the lights, or the Christmas cards, or the perfect tree, or the Christmas Queen.

It’s about a tiny baby who brings peace on earth, good will towards men.

One side note however. Isn’t the tree Charlie Brown picks out, with its lone red ornament, a better tree than the perfect triangle of a tree that the gang turns it into when they deck it out in Snoopy’s lights and glitter? Christmas is about a simple message, it doesn't need any lights or glitter either.  

The Search Continues

Welcome to this year’s Christmas edition of my Sunday inspirational blogs. For six weeks, starting the first Sunday in December, I will post an updated issue of the blogs I posted five years ago. I thought they were kind of cute, so decided they were worth revisiting. All the pictures are of animals either my daughter or I photographed on our trips to Kenya. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the story.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

Luke 2:4-5 New International Version 

Visitor: Excuse me. It is awful busy in this town.

Donkey: The king wanted to count all of the people in this land, so he told everyone to go back to the town of their ancestors. I guess a lot of people are from Bethlehem.

Visitor: Looks like. I am trying to find a young woman named Mary. I went to Nazareth looking for her, and they told me that she would be here.

Donkey: That’s her and her fiancé Joseph over there. I brought them here. It was a lot easier than the work that I usually do. Even though she’s going to have a baby, she doesn’t weigh as much as the carts I usually pull.

Visitor: I see. Why are she and Joseph talking to that man?

Donkey: They are looking for a place to spend the night. They have relatives in town, but all their houses are filled. I don’t know where they are going to stay.

Visitor: It looks like she could have the baby anytime.

Donkey: If you say so. Who are you anyway?

Visitor: Just someone who is trying to find out who Mary is and why she is so special.

Donkey: I wish I could help you. I could tell right away when I met her that she was special. She told Joseph that she could walk all the way here from Nazareth, but he insisted she ride and that’s why he borrowed me from my owner. I don’t think they have much money. I hope they find a place to stay.

Visitor: What about you? Where will you stay?

Donkey: I’m used to sleeping outside. What about you? Where will you sleep?

Visitor: I don’t know. Even though I have traveled a lot the last few days, I’m not tired. Maybe I will go out into the countryside. Enjoy the peace and quiet away from the city.

Donkey: Well, have a good night and maybe we will meet again.

Visitor: Maybe. In the meantime, I’m going to figure out why I am drawn to this woman Mary. But I guess it will have to wait until morning now. 

Bake a Legend

Here we are with our second Christmas cookie post of the season. I don’t know what makes these a Christmas staple – I think we should eat them year-round!

The story of these iconic cookies begins when Ohio resident Freda Smith was making peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and too late realized she had no chocolate chips. She did have a bag of Hershey’s Kisses though and stuck them on top of the peanut butter cookies. 

In 1958, she entered her recipe in the ninth annual Pillsbury Bake-off competition. Her cookies didn’t even place. Instead the winner was something called accordion treats, something nobody in this day and age has heard of, I bet.

Moral of the story – winning is not that big a deal and you don’t have to be a winner to become a legend. (I like that. I hope that saying takes off.)

So here’s how I bake up Mrs. Smith’s cookies

1 cup softened margarine

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs 

Blend these first ingredients together. I usually blend together the margarine and peanut butter first, with the margarine warmish so they meld together well. I also use this great Pampered Chef Measure-all cup to measure the peanut butter. Anybody else have a better idea for measuring it and then getting it all out of the measuring cup?

Next add the rest of the items and blend well.

Add: 

3 ½ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Stir in the last three ingredients and mix well.

Shape dough into balls. I scoop out the dough with the medium scoop from Pampered Chef – no I’m not a secret consultant.  These are the only Pampered Chef products I regularly use, besides, of course, my stoneware.

Roll the dough balls in sugar. I, along with the rest of world, generally roll them in white sugar, but I thought I’d try green and red sugar this year to make them more festive.

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. As soon as they come out of the oven, press a chocolate star into each one. Some recipes call for Hershey’s kisses, but do people really unwrap them all, or can you buy them unwrapped. Also, I kind of like the taste of the stars better.

Slide them off the pans before they cool completely.  

Freeze them as soon as they are completely cool and bury them in the bottom of the freezer or they won’t make it to Christmas!

Who's Your Favorite Ruminant?

Every Tuesday in December, I plan to post about a different one of my favorite Christmas specials. Today I’ll start with everyone’s favorite ruminant from 1964.

I wanted to begin the month with this show because it seems that when I was a kid, this was the first Christmas special to air on TV. These poor kids today. They can watch their favorite shows anytime they want, just throw in the DVD or pull it up on Netflix. Maybe that’s part of what’s wrong with the younger generation. No sense of waiting and wondering.

I digress.

So why does “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” make my list? For starters, doesn’t it make everyone’s list? We all know the songs. There’s comedy, adventure, romance. And doesn’t everyone always root for the underdog? I’m surprised with so much attention on bullying (and for good reason, don’t get me wrong), that I haven’t heard anything about Rudolph and his friend Hermey being the victims of bullying and what they do to overcome it. (Of course, I do kind of live under a rock, so I miss a lot.)

But then there’s that final scene. Rudolph is hitched to the front of the sleigh. He has saved Christmas. Everyone’s happy. Everyone except a dolly for Sue, Charlie in the Box and the train with square wheels. In fact I just read on some website of 10 facts you didn’t know about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer that in the original broadcast they never showed what happened to the misfit toys. But there was such an outrage by young viewers, that the following year the producers added that scene with the iconic line from Dolly, “I haven’t any dreams left to dream.”

To which I say, you always have a dream and you have to keep dreaming it. Someday it will come true. It did for the misfit toys and it will for anyone who doesn’t give up.

That’s why Rudolph stands the test of time in my book, and not just because it is the longest running holiday special ever. 

How's your Spritzgeback.

As we swing into the Christmas season, I have got blog ideas lined up for the entire month. Thursdays are going to be Christmas cookie day. What’s your favorite Christmas cookie and do you think that I’m going to write about it here? You’ll have to check in every week and see. 

The Spritz cookie has its origins the same place as I do - Germany. I don’t know how long the Loehmer family was in Germany, but the Spritz cookie has been there since the 1500’s. These cookies get their name from the German word Spritzgeback.  Geback is baked and spritz? Well, that means to squirt.

Now before you swear that you will never eat a Spritz cookie again, think about it? Have you ever made Spritz cookies or seen someone do it? If the dough isn’t just right, it can squirt out of the cookie press. I know mine does sometimes.

A lot of people don’t like making them because, as just mentioned, that dough has to be just the right consistency or it doesn’t come out of the press right and you end up with a mess.

I’m no genius at this, but I have found that the key is temperature. And not just the dough. The press and the pans and everything else that comes in contact with that dough needs to be slightly on the cool side. The more you handle those things, the warmer they get and then the squirting starts.

For better or worse, here’s the recipe I use:

1 cup butter or margarine

¾ cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 ¼ cups flour

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking powder

Cream the first four ingredients, then gradually add the flour, salt and baking powder. Recipes always say to sift the flour and other dry ingredients together before adding them to the moist stuff. I never do that, I hate to dirty another bowl. I just dump the salt, soda or whatever else on top of the first bunch of flour I add and kind of work it in. Alton Brown, I am not. 

Anyway, oh, yea, preheat oven to 375 degrees. I never do that either. It’s a wonder anything I bake ever turns out. That first batch just has to bake a little longer while the oven heats up.

Ok, maybe this sharing cookie recipes once a week was a mistake. Yea, definitely, coz I’m not going to be able to tell you how long I bake these things. I just keep checking them until they’re done.

Yikes. I’ll have to try to be better next week. 

Very Last of the Travels for the Year

About 80 miles north of the state capital, on the west side of I-39, resides the Hancock Agricultural Research Station. Run by the University of Wisconsin, it is a 412-acre research farm where trials of potatoes, field corn, sweet corn, soybeans, snap beans, carrots, cucumbers and switchgrass are run.

I drive down this highway quite a bit, probably a few times a year. The vegetable part of this station isn’t what I have always found fascinating. It’s the beautiful flower garden you can see from the interstate.

I’ve always wanted to stop, and finally that day in October, when Hubby and I were taking a drive, I made him pull over. 

The spot I was captivated by is actually the A. R. Albert and Villetta Hawley-Albert Horticultural Garden. This garden has been here since 1993 and was named, in part, after A. R. Albert who had been the superintendent of the Hancock Station from 1922 to 1947. And that was all the information I was able to gather off the internet. 

The only other thing I got is pictures. 

 

 The beginning of October was a little late to catch anything in full-bloom. 

Still saw lots of pretty stuff though. 

 

 Not so late in the season that they had drained the ponds. 

 I love this grass. I've been wanting some in my yard for a long time.

 My favorite all-time picture. How cool, huh? 

 Hubby's giving me the "have you taken enough pictures yet?" look. 

So that's it folks. I have finally gotten through all those road trips and day trips I took earlier this fall. Well, actually, there is one more, but - it's a story for another time. 

We're heading into winter! Come back this Thursday, when I start my Christmas series.

Give Thanks, one more time

I really had planned on posting at least my usual three times this week. I even thought about posting a daily Bible verse on giving thanks, because there are a lot of them to pick from, for good reason.

That did not happen. My week kind of fell apart on me. I do know, however, that no matter how my weeks, or my days, or even my months turn out, I still have more to be thankful for than to not be thankful for. I am blessed beyond measure. 

Various verses from Psalm 118

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

    his love endures forever.

5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;

    he brought me into a spacious place.

6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.

    What can mere mortals do to me?

7 The Lord is with me; he is my helper.

    I look in triumph on my enemies.

8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord

    than to trust in humans.

14 The Lord is my strength and my defense;

    he has become my salvation.

15 Shouts of joy and victory

    resound in the tents of the righteous:

“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!

16  The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;

    the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”

21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;

    you have become my salvation.

22 The stone the builders rejected

    has become the cornerstone;

23 the Lord has done this,

    and it is marvelous in our eyes.

24 The Lord has done it this very day;

    let us rejoice today and be glad.

25 Lord, save us!

    Lord, grant us success!

28 You are my God, and I will praise you;

    you are my God, and I will exalt you.

29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

    his love endures forever.

New International Version 

A lot to be Thankful for

From Psalm 107

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

    his love endures forever.

2 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—

    those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

3 those he gathered from the lands,

    from east and west, from north and south.

4 Some wandered in desert wastelands,

    finding no way to a city where they could settle.

5 They were hungry and thirsty,

    and their lives ebbed away.

6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,

    and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He led them by a straight way

    to a city where they could settle.

8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love

    and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

9 for he satisfies the thirsty

    and fills the hungry with good things.

I was going to post this to my blog yesterday but then ran out of time and couldn’t think of anything to say about it anyway. Today, I was hit in the face with the reality of homelessness and just now read this again. Wow. Once again, God’s timing is impeccable.

It’s so easy to stereotype the homeless – they live in a big city, they have a drug or alcohol history, they suffer from mental illness, they are lazy, they could have a nice home if they wanted one but instead they choose to live on the streets. You can’t say that every homeless person fits into one of these stereotypes. Or that even most of them do. Each homeless person is as different as each snowflake. Each has a pattern and a story of their very own. And the best way to start to help them is to not judge and to instead treat them as a person, the same way that you would like to be treated.

 Today, at the time, I gave this homeless person everything that I could under the circumstances. Was it enough? As I sit here in my warm house with a full belly and a cat on my lap, I’d have to admit no. But I can’t let guilt weigh me down. I’m left with little to do except to pray for this person and for the people who I must trust to help him. Then I have to turn it over to God.

Not your typical Thanksgiving day message, huh? If you are reading this, though, where ever you, whatever your circumstances, you have a lot to be thankful for. 

Giving Thanks this Week

 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;

    I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

 I will be glad and rejoice in you;

    I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

 (Psalm 9:1-2 New International Version)

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I thought I would share some passages from the Bible in which the authors gave thanks to God. I suspected I would run into a long list of passages. Even concentrating only on the Book of Psalms, I came across 20 verses and a few chapters which were just about giving thanks. Which if you know anything about the Book of Psalms, makes sense.

With that in mind, I am going to give thanks each day this week for a gift I have received from God. Today, I am thankful for His Word and the precious gift of the Bible. 

 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

     Worship the Lord with gladness;

    come before him with joyful songs.

 Know that the Lord is God.

    It is he who made us, and we are his;

    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

 Enter his gates with thanksgiving

    and his courts with praise;

    give thanks to him and praise his name.

 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

(Psalm 100 New International Version)

Another small town

 Still winding our way back from that ride to Princeton in October, we stopped at the granite quarry in Montello. With a population of not quite 1,500, Montello sits in southcentral Wisconsin and is the county seat of Marquette County. Founded in 1848, Montello may be best known for the quality of the granite which was quarried here from 1880 until the 1960s. In fact, the granite from this location was so durable and beautiful, that it was chosen for the monument at Grant’s Tomb, beating out 280 pieces of granite from around the world. 

 In 1977, when the quarry shut down, the piece of property changed hands a few times and parcels of it were sold off. In 1992 the waterfalls in these pictures were constructed and the water running over them is currently being pumped by the city of Montello.

 This waterfall, however, was created by the Montello Lions Club in 1966. I don’t know how that happened, just adjacent to the quarry. I didn’t have much luck on-line. Guess what, folks, I’ll have to go back here someday. (Along with all those other little towns I need to further explore.)  

Know what I really think?  I really think I need to get someone to fly me over this place  in their plane..